We have already introduced the songs from the Big 5, the Nordic Countries and the former Yugoslavia. This week, Felix is giving his first verdict on a group we are describing as the the “Eastern EU” countries: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and Romania.

In case you’re missing them: Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece have been allocated to another group of countries and will be introduced at a later date.

Looking Back

The five countries in this group were all (more or less) on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain before it fell. Estonia, Hungary and Lithuania wanted to join Eurovision already in 1993, but they failed to make it through the unique Eastern European Preselection, which was more successful for the former Yugoslav countries.

So it was 1994 when Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Hungary entered Eurovision for the first time – Latvia followed six years later in 2000.

So far, the region counts two victories to its name: Estonia in 2001 with “Everybody” and Latvia in 2002 with “I Wanna“, which was one of the “quickest” victories in Eurovision ever.

Romania has often been successful enough to make it to the top 10, their biggest successes being “Let Me Try” (2005) and “Playing With Fire” (2010).

Hungary (2 top 10 places) and Lithuania (1 top 10 place) have been less fortunate. Both have also been last in a semi-final before – as have Latvia.

The region has “suffered” from many withdrawals from Eurovision in recent years, with Hungary declining to participate seven times since their first entry, Poland missing since 2012, Slovakia declining to participate ten times (including 2013) and the Czech Republic missing since 2010, after a short ESC history of just three consecutive years.

Now let’s have a look at what the remaining Eastern EU countries have to offer this year.

The Eastern EU countries in 2013

Estonia recently had very balanced results, with two top 10 entries in 2009 and 2012. Before “Rändajad“, the country had suffered from hard times, being stuck in the semis from 2004 to 2008. Despite the progressive national final that Eesti Laul surely is, the country went for another traditional ballad this year, sung by Birgit Õigemeel.

“Et uus saaks alguse“ makes it quite hard for me to find nice words for it. On first listen, it’s – well – boring. At its best, the chorus is a remote relative to “In A Moment Like This”, but not as catchy at all. Estonia will find it very hard to get out of its semi-final, and personally I don’t see any reason why anyone between Sligo and Odessa should vote for this. Boring and hopeless.

	Top 10	victory	personal

Hungary has managed to reach the final two years in a row, which can surely be seen as a minor success, although it hasn’t been crowned by a top 10 result since “Unsubstantial Blues” (2007). This year, the successful National Final show “A Dal” spawned the group ByeAlex.

“Kedvesem” is one of those songs that is unusual for Eurovision. What ESC fans might find unsuitable and boring will probably wake up the common audience. Despite being sung in Hungarian, it might attract one or the other regular TV viewer to vote for it, as it’s far from typical ESC but still spreads its relaxing, happy charm. I like this a lot!

	Top 10	victory	personal

Latvia hasn’t been in the final for four consecutive years now, the last time being in 2008 with “Wolves of the Sea”. Will they be luckier this year with PeR?

“Here We Go” doesn’t really sound more appealing than “Angel In Disguise” or “What For?” (which does have its fans). The decision to have this as the opener of its semi surely was based on the song title and the instant (questionable) catchiness, and can only help the song getting a result good enough for the final. I see this around the borderline, but it will probably be stuck in the semi anyway. I do enjoy it though, for some reason.

	Top 10	victory	personal

Lithuania hasn’t been doing very badly or very well recently. “We Are The Winners” (2006) was the first and still the last top 10 success for the country. This year, nothing about that fact will change unless Andrius Pojavis will surprise us.

“Something” is leaving me clueless about what to write. So I asked my friend and fellow editor Martin about the matter, and his reply was “Something”. I guess that already describes the whole song, apart of the fact that it’s completely random and feels like a stray dog on happy pills. I kind of have a soft spot for this. Also, it’s completely hopeless.

	Top 10	victory	personal

Romania hasn’t missed the final since 2001, meaning it has never failed to proceed from a semi-final. Next year, we will probably have to add the words “until Cezar” to this line.

“It’s My Life” is going to be hurtful for many, many people. There is a composition, and it’s not bad at all. But there is this singer, and the way he is singing. A lot of windows will have to be fixed come May. Surprisingly enough, with a bit of luck, this might still make it to the final – and break even more windows. Unbelievable, and unbelievably bad for the country’s otherwise quite high standard at Eurovision.

	Top 10	victory	personal

The bottom line is that the Eastern EU countries don’t offer any hot favourites this year, but rather a mixture of guilty pleasures and completely forgettable songs. Apart from Hungary, which is really good and very likely to have a “dark horse” status by May.

You can tell us your own opinion in the poll on the right-hand side of our website: Which song from the Eastern EU countries do you like best? The poll will remain open until Thursday morning.

We want to emphasize that the judgements on the songs are based on the personal taste of the author, and that the predictions made here might be very different to the predictions we make once the rehearsals begin!